u/AdDisastrous4167

PC: SeaWorld

She was gorgeous. I wish she had gotten more time at SeaWorld San Diego; she would've been 49 today. I'm sad all of her calves passed before she subsequently did.

PC: Joy Grant

Do you think they were a truly functional pod when they grew up in 2013-16? Because even in 2016-17, some people claimed Loro Parque Pod was always dysfunctional and disorganized, and had no matriarch. But, I think the pod stabilized around the mid 2010s.

This photo is clear evidence of all pod members getting along, and Tekoa is cuddling on Morgan's flipper for some reason.

Rest in Peace, Keto, Kohana, Skyla, and Ula

PC: Loro Parque

I can't believe it has been three years without this boy. He was so young.

I was really forward to seeing how big he would've grown, but I guess we'll never know. He was my favorite Moskvarium orca and Nord is probably one of the more unique-looking captive orcas along with Orkid.

Rest in Peace, Nord

PC: Inherently Wild

Morgan was born in 2007 or 2008 off the coast of Norway. She is the only female orca at Loro Parque and is the matriarch there.

Somehow, in the summer of 2010, she had gotten herself completely lost when she was found swimming alone in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands. She was emaciated to the brink of death; she only weighed 430 kg (947 lbs), while a whale of her size should weigh at least 700-800 kg (1540-1760 lbs). Thankfully, help came and rescued her from certain death by starvation and pneumonia.

She was then sent to Dolfinarium Harderwijk, a facility with extensive experience with rescued dolphins and harbor porpoises, and which had kept Icelandic killer whales in the 70s-80s before their transfer to facilities decades ago. Less than three months after her arrival in Harderwijk, she had gained 250 kg.

Dolfinarium Harderwijk's original goal was to release her, and they worked with NAKID (North Atlantic Killer Whale ID) to find her birth pod. However, subsequently, the Dutch Government decided Morgan was unreleasable due to her young age, and the only options for her were euthanasia or transfer to another facility with killer whales.

In 2011, a permit for transfer to Loro Parque (one of the two facilities housing Killer whales in the EU) was approved. Here she met Keto, Kohana, Skyla, Tekoa, and Adan. Being the youngest female in the pod, she was displaced by the matriarch, as she was the lowest-ranking female.

In May 2012, a team of veterinarians discovered that Morgan suffers a profound hearing deficit, meaning that she is partially or even fully deaf. Morgan has difficulty responding to auditory cues such as whistles but is very good at responding to hand or arm gestures, which led her veterinarians to believe she may be hard of hearing. An electrophysiological probe done on Morgan confirmed this. Due to her deafness, a new bridging system was installed in the killer whale complex for Morgan to understand when she performs a behavior correctly. The new system includes light boxes that flash whenever Morgan has been bridged.

In 2017, it was confirmed that Morgan was pregnant; the father was Keto. On September 22nd, 2018, Morgan gave birth to her first calf, Ula. Morgan, unfortunately, couldn't nurse Ula, so both had to be temporarily separated. Morgan would spend time near the medical pool gate where Ula stayed. Finally, they were both reintroduced, and both did well together.

In the next 2 years, Skyla, Ula, and Kohana all passed away.

In 2023, Morgan got pregnant for the second time, likely by Keto. Unfortunately, before Keto could meet his future son, Keto passed away in 2024. On March 31st, 2025, Morgan gave birth to Teno. Teno has met Tekoa and Adan, and the pod is healthy right now.

Her name, "Morgan," is of Welsh and Brenton origin, which means "Bright shining sea" or "sea-born."

On a sadder note, today is the 3rd anniversary of Nord's passing.

PC: DikaFloraPhotography, Loro Parque

Tuar was born to Kalina and Tilikum at SeaWorld Orlando. He was Kalina's third surviving calf and the fourth pregnancy. His name means "Unique" in Inuit.

He was born on June 22nd, 1999, to Kalina and Tilikum, and was featured on Animal Planet's That's My Baby series. He spent time with his parents and other pod members; he was known to be very close to Unna and Tekoa, another calf around his age. Tekoa was rejected by his mother, Taima, and Kalina stepped up as a surrogate for him.

In 2004, Kalina gave birth to Tuar's full-blooded sister, Skyla, and he met her a few days after her birth. On April 25th, 2004, Tuar was transferred to SeaWorld San Antonio alongside Tekoa. At the time, it was speculated that their move was in preparation for a future transfer to Loro Parque, a facility located in Spain. Here he met Kayla and his half-brothers, Kyuquot and Keet, and was reunited with Unna.

Tuar was slow to adjust the move. After arriving in Texas, he began rubbing his teeth against concrete and picking the paint at the bottom of the pools. This caused damage to some of his teeth and required them to be drilled. Although Tuar made notable progress through the years, he remained highly sensitive to small changes in his environment. At some point, Tuar and Tekoa began to spend more time apart, and in February 2006, Tekoa and Keto were transferred to Loro Parque.

In 2009, an adult female named Takara came to San Antonio. He and the other members of the pod soon met her. In 2010, Takara gave birth to Tuar's younger half-sister, Sakari. In 2012, Keet was transferred to San Diego. In 2013, Takara gave birth to Kamea. Unfortunately, in 2015, Unna passed away.

In 2016, SeaWorld announced an end to its breeding program. They also announced that Takara was expecting her fifth calf, fathered by Kyuquot. On April 19th, 2017, Takara gave birth to Kyara, the last killer whale born at SeaWorld. In late July, Kyara developed pneumonia and was moved to the Animal Care Center for more intensive care. She passed away there on July 24th, 2017, at just over three months old. In June 2025, Kamea suddenly passed away from a respiratory illness.

Tuar is a very high-energy and playful whale. He's reliable in shows and is mainly grouped with Kyuquot. However, he is an extremely environmentally sensitive whale. He’s easy to break out of control when something small in his environment changes, such as water levels, cranes, or water tights going into the pool. Tuar is the second-largest whale in Texas. He has small, rounded eye patches and a dorsal fin collapsed completely to his left. He has large pectoral fins, and his right tail fluke curls downward.

PC: dakotagophotos (IG), floppyfins.photography

This is Freya, she was the last wild caught orca in France and the oldest orca at Marineland Antibes at the age of 34.

She was captured off the coast of Stokkseyri, Iceland, at the age of ~1, along with Nootka IV, Kim II, Haida II and an unnamed male.

She was then taken to Marineland Antibes, France along with Kim. Upon their arrival, they joined Betty, an 8 year old female. They got along well and performed together until Betty died of unknown causes in 1987.

Freya then suffered an illness in 1986 and subsequently recovered. In 1991, Sharkane and Tanouk arrived at Marineland. While Sharkane fit well into the social structure, there was tension between Kim and Tanouk, so Tanouk was often kept in the back pools. This may have been due to Freya's pregnancy at the time. In 1995, Tanouk was sold to Izu Mito Sea Paradise in Japan.

Freya had a tumor that was removed in 1995. However, you could still see the circular scar on her left side.

In 1993, Sharkane gave birth to Shouka, and Freya was a good aunt to Shouka. Freya had her third pregnancy and first surviving calf, Valentin in 1996. Both grew close. On February 23rd, 1999, Sharkane gave birth to Inouk and on June 1st, 2001, Sharkane gave birth to Wikie. Freya likely met them few days or weeks after their births.

Although she gave birth to a healthy calf in 1996, Freya gave birth to two more stillborns in 2001 and 2003. In 2001, Shouka was transferred to the United States, leaving her birth pod behind. In 2005, Kim passed away due to pneumonia. In the late 2000s, Sharkane and Wikie underwent artificial insemination procedures and training, it's unknown if Freya participated in them as well. In 2009, Sharkane succumbed to a bacterial infection. That same year, Wikie was artificially inseminated with the sperm of Ulises, a male killer whale from SeaWorld.

In March 16th, 2011, Wikie gave birth to Moana, he met the rest of the pod a few days later. On November 20th, 2013, Wikie gave birth to Keijo, shortly after his birth, he was introduced to Freya, Keijo was her only grandson as Valentin was the sire.

Freya was the matriarch of the pod and was described as a fairly dominant whale. She was known to be a very reliable whale with her trainers, and was very curious. She also enjoyed playing "hide-and-seek" with her trainers. She played the role of "auntie" to Sharkane's calves. She also helped out Wikie with her calves.

In 2015, Freya sadly passed away from Hypovolemic Shock and blood loss and a few other factors.

Rest in Peace, Freya.

She was the first orca that passed away when I joined the community, it's so hard to believe it's been 11 years now.

PC: EdgeOFall (IG)

Today marks 1 year since the passing of Kamea, who passed away on June 18th, 2025, at 11 years old.

Rest in Peace, Kamea

We all miss your spunky and bubbly personality so much.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Keto, the oldest killer whale to have lived at Loro Parque and Kalina's second offspring.

Despite Keto’s dominance and behavioral record, he was a very gentle and soft-mannered killer whale. He was often paired up with new trainers as a ‘beginner’ whale because of his patient and calm demeanor. He was also the largest killer whale at Loro Parque at 20.5 feet and 8,600 pounds.

Keto was born on June 17th, 1995, at SeaWorld Orlando to Kalina and Kotar. He was born approximately one month following the death of his father, Kotar, who died in San Antonio. His father, Kotar, was an Icelandic orca while his mother, Kalina, was 50/50 Southern Resident and Icelandic, making Keto 75% Icelandic and 25% Southern Resident.

When Keto was young, he was known to play roughly and annoy the older whales. He was also described as ¨rebellious¨ and was referred to as ¨punk¨ by trainers. In 1996, his mother fell pregnant with her third calf. He was moved to SeaWorld San Diego at 3½ years old, where he met his full brother, Keet, and both got along well.

After nine months in San Diego, Keto was moved to SeaWorld Ohio alongside Keet and Sumar. Out of the three, Keto took the longest to adjust to the move and took several days to fully respond to trainers. Keto performed waterworks in Ohio and was reliable in all aspects of training. In February 2001, Keto was moved for a third time to SeaWorld San Antonio.

In 2006, Keto made his final move when he was moved to Loro Parque at the age of 10, along with a 5-year-old Tekoa. Here, he also met his half-sister, Skyla, and niece, Kohana. In October 2010, Kohana gave birth to Keto's first calf, Adán, which was a very questionable pairing. In 2011, rescued orca, Morgan, arrived at Loro Parque. Keto maintained good and proper relationships with all orcas at Loro Parque once he matured. He ended up having two more calves, Victoria in 2012 and Ula in 2018.

On November 20th, 2024, Loro Parque posted a statement on their Facebook page stating that Keto "has been very unwell for several weeks." They assured readers that the park's veterinary specialists had been working tirelessly to ensure Keto would make a full recovery. Despite their valiant efforts, Keto succumbed to his illness two days later.

On November 22nd, 2024, Loro Parque announced in a statement on their social media that Keto had passed away. A necropsy was carried out by a team of veterinarians from the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (IUSA) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) on November 23rd to determine his exact cause of death and the nature of his illness. Before the necropsy commenced, the team conducting the necropsy paid their respects to Keto by performing a Māori ritual. He was the fifth-oldest male captive orca at the time of his passing at 29.

We miss you, Keto.

Photo Credit: Dika_FPhotography

They look like beans!

Ignore the poor quality on some of them, as they're very old, and I tried to find the highest-quality ones.

We know that, in real life, animals in zoos and aquariums tend to form bonds and attachments to their zookeepers, vets, and caretakers, but in Planet Zoo, both barely acknowledge each other.

Do you believe PZ2 should add zookeeper-animal relationships?

So, many people might know SeaWorld & Loro Parque used to make Promo Videos in 2016-17 of their orcas, I've fortunately managed to gather all of them that I could find.

SeaWorld:

• Nalani - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN6NHsPtzfs
• Kalia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvdQTU-quTg
• Kamea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpULcWZyaco
• Keet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjh1s9ocua0
• Kyuquot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyntfFeOCk
• Makaio - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLv-18UazEI
• Makani - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKu_06-UCHc
• Amaya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqUqKI282KU
• Corky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUCPV3uOIRY
• Sakari - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1CRhsIWe94
• Trua - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWYNW78kI6I

Loro Parque:

• Keto - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__WhMpOniFY
• Kohana - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUAtIrlzfzo
• Skyla - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onIJzkfGiJY
• Tekoa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdrO6wX2bNs
• Morgan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym4Wdn7i4TM
• Adan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g3c7HV3KdE

Here are all of them I could find. I remember there was also a Meet Kayla, but SeaWorld, for some reason, deleted it after her passing. I love these videos, and this makes me miss the ones who've passed away. I wish they hadn't deleted the Meet Kayla and also made other promos with other orcas, also they really avoided most of their wild-caught orcas (Katina, Kasatka, Ulises & Tilikum) except Corky.

Leaving cetaceans, which sharks are you expecting or speculating for Planet Zoo 2? So far, we've gotten 2 species confirmed, the Blacktip Reef Shark and the Great Hammerhead. What other species you're expecting?

Rest in Peace, Katina

We miss you.

Photo Credits: Cetabaker

Photo provided by SeaWorld.

A nice throwback of the SWSD Pod in 2003.